Distinctive biophysical and light-encoding properties of inhibitory neurons in the macaque monkey retina.
Abstract:
The retina is the only part of the brain that is visible to the naked eye. It’s natural isolation from the rest of the brain makes the retina an ideal model for studying the biophysical properties of neurons and the computational properties of neural circuits in an intact experimental preparation. In this talk, I will discuss the biophysical and light-encoding properties of an inhibitory neuron—the wiry-type amacrine cell. These cells have been identified morphologically in the macaque and human retina. They exhibit long, thin dendritic processes that exhibit regenerative potentials likely arising from NMDA spikes. In addition, these cells show asymmetrical responses to visual motion, suggesting that they contribute to motion processing in the primate visual stream.
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host: Stan Froehner